Making in 2019

Well, I’d written a goal to write a blog post twice a week, but that seems to have fallen by the way side. Not for lack of thinking, however! One thing I’ve been reading and thinking about is the issue of diversity and racism and especially within on-line platforms. I’ve mentioned before that I use Instagram as a source of inspiration – sometimes via the designers or artists I follow, but often via the projects I see other knitters making. Last month I became more aware of how little diversity there is in my own feed. I read many posts by BIPOC makers about how they didn’t feel safe in the environments that I do – which made me think more about what I need to do to change that. Like most white women I like to think I’m not racist, but I am a privileged white woman who benefits at the expense of others. And if I’m going to be angry about the lack of equality for women, I need to be angry about the inequality within women. The wage gaps are spreading within women based on ethnicity in alarming ways.

What can I do? I’ve asked myself that, and have started reading books and taking on-line courses regarding it. I’m not far into the process, but as I work through the materials, I think I may use this platform for my thoughts – I’m not sure yet.

One place I’ve started is to try to make my social feeds look less like me, and more like the world. I’ve found some wonderful makers and designers. I’m thinking about my Make 9 list and decided that rather than dismantling it entirely, I’ll figure out how to ensure it’s diversity. I’ve found a wonderful dyer Ocean Rose who has her shop, Ocean by the Sea. I managed to get 2 skeins of some beautiful yarn in a recent update that arrived today!!! I love a beautiful package, and Ocean did not disappoint. In fact upon opening it I exclaimed “it smells wonderful! Just like yoga class!” The wrapping is as beautiful as the yarn itself:

I’ll use that for one of my projects. I’m going to look at my list of projects and see if I can replace them with a BIPOC designers. I’ve already got a few patterns from Frenchie – Aroha Knits that I want to knit and there are some great women putting together some very helpful lists of BIPOC makers, and I’ve added quite a few to my Instagram feed, and am starting to add to my library as well.

On the Make 9 front, I thought I hadn’t started any yet, but just realized I did finish the Vermonter for Eliza. I think I may have blocked it out due to the many times I redid it.

But we did get more yarn for the pompon, and it is indeed finished:

And this week I started another Snow Ghost hat – since the first one I made Chad was a little too big. It’s coming along nicely:

I did finish my Livin Sweater last week, but haven’t had a chance to take any pictures yet, so I’ll wait to talk about that project. Maybe I’ll even post again before February ends!